'Progress' Made in Band Shell Project

"Significant progress" has been made toward the construction of a pergola-style structure at to replace the demolished band shell, Leadership Redondo Class of 2010 project leader Larry Rosolowski told the City Council on Tuesday.

The old band shell was demolished in April of last year because it was structurally unsound—or "decrepit and dangerous," as Councilman Steven Diels put it. The Leadership Redondo Class of 2010 planned to replace it with a pergola-style plaza; however, the proposed structure had to be scaled down after the estimated cost increased to more than $200,000.

The City Council approved the design of the new structure in September of 2011.

The project remains in the design phase, Rosolowski said.

"We call it the design phase, but the design itself is pretty much done," he said.

The current plan will cost $110,000—$90,000 from private donations and $21,000 from the city's demolition budget—and Rosolowski said the class hopes to have construction completed before the next rainy season.

He and the City Council both noted that much of the work on the project is being done by volunteers; Rosolowski said the architect has invested nearly 250 hours in the project.

Despite the amount of time it's taken to get the project approved—the average tenure of a Leadership Redondo class is 18 months—councilmen commended Rosolowski and the other volunteers for their work.

"Your project's going to be remembered … a lot of people are going to enjoy this for a long time," Councilman Bill Brand said.